Category: Cyber Security

Introduction to Cyber Security for Teachers – Funded places available!

The CPD award Introduction to Cyber Security, jointly funded by Education Scotland, was created for ALL primary and secondary teachers and designed to give background knowledge and understanding related to teaching basic cybersecurity and configuring an environment suitable for cybersecurity education.

The module allows you to get a basic practical understanding of cybersecurity and cyber resilience and the relationship between these two areas of security. This will enable you to have the awareness and confidence to support pupils and create practical activities and content. The module content is levelled at SCQF 7 however is appropriate for teachers delivering to BOTH primary and secondary pupils. 

The module will be delivered over 14 weeks and the semester will start Week beginning 29th August 2022 with an online induction with the course commencing week beginning 5th September 2022. 

With the support of Education Scotland, we have funding for teachers to enrol on the module. The usual cost of the module would be £215. It is recommended you apply as soon as possible as the funding will be allocated on date of application.

The courses are open to any teacher with the relevant entry qualifications (degree and existing teaching qualification) who have an interest in computing or cyber security.

There is normally a weekly lecture and support session that lasts for approx. an hour, or more if required, with further e mail support available. The sessions are certainly beneficial as they allow you to ask questions there and then. However, the course is designed to be taught when is convenient for all the students and all lectures and tutorial session are recorded for viewing at your leisure.

No time off will be required during the school day. The lectures are recorded for students unable to attend in person. All activity is carried out online the majority of which happens asynchronously. The modules have a notional 200 hours per module over the semester. It would depend on your previous experience on whether you needed all that time. If you were able to set aside a day at the weekend or a couple of evenings for study, you would not be far off what is required for achieving the award.

You can apply for the course with this link:
https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/cpd-award-introduction-to-cyber-security/

Please get in touch if you have any further questions:

Gordon.macpherson.ic@uhi.ac.uk

cyber security

Cyber Security

This page contains all the ideas, information and resources specific to Cyber Security in Scotland.

Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety (CRIS)

Our Digilearn.scot site contains all the ideas, information and resources for supporting Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety, as this sits within the Digital Literacy Experiences and Outcomes.

Go to the CRIS site

Cyber Security Opportunities and Community Posts

Introduction to Cyber Security for Teachers – Funded places available!

The CPD award Introduction to Cyber Security, jointly funded by Education Scotland, was created for ALL primary and secondary teachers and designed to give background knowledge and understanding related… Read more

cyber security

Cyber Security

This page contains all the ideas, information and resources specific to Cyber Security in Scotland. Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety (CRIS) Our Digilearn.scot site contains… Read more

level 4 prior verified assessments at level 4 cyber

Level 4 Resources for Cyber Fundamentals and Internet Safety

Education Scotland have collaborated with Girvan Academy in South Ayrshire to produce a set of resources that combine the SQA level 4 units in Cyber Security Fundamentals… Read more

stop it now technology assisted harmful sexual behaviour professional learning

Technology Assisted Harmful Sexual Behaviour with Stop It Now

Technology Assisted Harmful Sexual Behaviour (TAHSB) is unfortunately an issue that educators deal with on a daily basis. It impacts on friendships and relationships of… Read more

Cyber Resources – Cyber Centurion

Cyber Centurion provides a range of cyber resources:   CyberCenturion – Cyber Security Challenge UK Cyber Challenge in a Box – Cyber Security Challenge UK… Read more

Cyber Chef

CyberChef – the Cyber “Swiss Army Knife” is GCHQ’s intuitive web app for analysing and decoding data. CyberChef – the Cyber “Swiss Army Knife” –… Read more

Cyber Resources – CS4FN

Here are some articles and content from CS4FN to engage learners with cyber security: Computer Science for Fun – cs4fn: cs4fn Magazine+: Issue 24: Cyber… Read more

Sign up for CyberFirst Girls Development Days!

This year’s CyberFirst Girls Competition was a great success with over 6,000 entries from across the UK! And we’re not stopping there – girls that… Read more

uhi cyber course reflections

TEACHER’S REFLECTIONS ON CLPL – UHI INTRO TO CYBER SECURITY ONLINE COURSE FOR TEACHERS

“Courses like this are vital to give teachers the skills and confidence to deliver Cyber Security to their pupils.” by Darren Brown, Computing Science Teacher… Read more

CYBER SECURITY CLPL UHI

CLPL – Introduction to Cyber Security at UHI

This module is aimed at qualified primary and secondary teachers who wish to develop the knowledge, understanding and problem-solving skills related to teaching basic cyber… Read more

CYBER SKILLS LIVE

The Cyber Skills Live site offers interactive ethical hacking challenges for learners to test their cyber security skills. Keep an eye on their site for… Read more

level 4 prior verified assessments at level 4 cyber

Level 4 Resources for Cyber Fundamentals and Internet Safety

Education Scotland have collaborated with Girvan Academy in South Ayrshire to produce a set of resources that combine the SQA level 4 units in Cyber Security Fundamentals and Internet Safety.  These resources reinforce our belief that every learner should have the knowledge and skills to use the internet and online services safely, allowing them to spot potential risks and recover from any potential harm, they face while using online services. 

 

 

The following teaching resources have been created:

 

Assessment evidence  

The assessor will use the portfolio approach to generate evidence that learners have achieved these units. 

A learner must complete the Getting Started with Online Accounts booklet, one of the relevant ”Getting Started with Chromebook/iPad’ booklets (depending on what device they have set up), and then the assessor must complete an observation checklist for every learner:

  • Assessor answer booklet  
  • Observation checklist  
  • Learner profile  

 

The teacher answer booklet and prior verification certificate can be downloaded from the SQA secure site.

Sign up for CyberFirst Girls Development Days!

This year’s CyberFirst Girls Competition was a great success with over 6,000 entries from across the UK! And we’re not stopping there – girls that entered the 2020/2021 competition are now eligible to attend free Development Days and continue their CyberFirst journey.

 

The CyberFirst Girls Development Day initiative is inspired and led by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ to encourage understanding of the different specialisms within cyber security and equip the girls with practical, in-demand skills.

 

On the day, the girls will be role-playing as cyber security experts working for a fictitious app company, Sirius Cyberworks. Unfortunately, disaster has struck and there has been a serious breach of the company network – a new flagship app has been leaked.

 

The girls’ role is to work through four different parts of the company, uncovering how the leak happened whilst learning new cyber skills along the way.

 

The development days are running throughout October and:

  • are open to girls now in S2/S3 in Scotland
  • consist of a series of fun, interactive one day face-to-face courses; or two half-day virtual sessions (depending on the preferred delivery model)
  • feature guest speakers and videos from trailblazing women leaders working in the cyber industry

 

Places fill up fast, so make sure you secure yours as soon as possible. Reserve your place today with your priority booking voucher code: CFSCOT2021

 

Click here to find out more and reserve your place or share with any friends or family who may be interested.

uhi cyber course reflections

TEACHER’S REFLECTIONS ON CLPL – UHI INTRO TO CYBER SECURITY ONLINE COURSE FOR TEACHERS

“Courses like this are vital to give teachers the skills and confidence to deliver Cyber Security to their pupils.”

by Darren Brown, Computing Science Teacher from Inverness High School in Highland (@invernesshigh), Northern Alliance

I’ve been keen for a few years to bring in more Cyber Security into my school but admittedly I was a little put off due to my lack of knowledge and having no idea how to even start to approach the practical work.

The Intro to Cyber Security course from UHI was exactly what I needed. It did require a few hours a week of work but I progressed through all the basics of Cyber Security building my knowledge. Having done online courses before I was used to working independently but on this course although I could work when suited it me we also had a specific recorded lecture a week to watch and tutorial session where all the students could tune in, ask questions and share ideas. There was also a discussion board for interaction and posting ideas, issues or questions anyone had. There were various extra resources, links, videos and websites available to go into more detail if I wanted to and all related to the latest real world scenarios. There were plenty of practical tasks on various online systems to do hands-on work to build on the theory as well as setup of virtual machines to do proper Ethical Hacking.

At all times what was studied was brought back to thinking about how you could introduce and bring concepts to life in your own classroom. Even the assessments are tailored to creating materials and ideas for classes.

The course had a mix of primary, Computing and other subject secondary teachers so was very accessible for all introducing the key building blocks of Cyber Security but allowing those who wished to do hands on Ethical Hacking to upskill to think about delivering the SQA National Progression Award (NPA) in Cyber Security.

Everyone is very busy but this is a CPD course that will directly help your teaching on the ground of Cyber Security. The lecturers were very approachable, gave any help required, answered questions as well as being flexible to teacher’s busy weekly schedules with deadlines. Like general Computing Science it is very clear we need to bring more Cyber Security into all schools at all levels.

“Courses like this are vital to give teachers the skills and confidence to deliver Cyber Security to their pupils.”

abertay cyber security course

ETHICAL HACKING MODULE AT ABERTAY UNIVERSITY – REFLECTIONS OF A TEACHER

In today’s world I am sure I don’t need to point out how important cyber security is and it will be even more central in the future. Understanding how to protect both your financial and personal data is vital for all pupils and not just those interested in a career in computing. As a Computing Science teacher it is therefore my duty to ensure I do all I can to have the next generation as prepared as possible. 

So that I can give the skills needed for all levels, I realised I needed to have a good understanding of language and skills around cyber security as well as having up to date course material. This would then allow me to both develop a curriculum to suit all BGE pupils as well those interested in Cyber Security as a career. 

I have been attempting to introduce the National Progression Award in Cyber Security to senior pupils over the last couple of years. I attended various SQA courses and seminars, I read all the material and I did some online courses from other providers. This all gave me some confidence but I still never quite felt able to have real discussions or importantly problem solve when inevitably things go wrong. I still spent most of my time responding to pupils with “let me go find out” and start asking colleagues and web searching.  

When I was offered the chance to do the Ethical Hacking Module with Abertay University I jumped at the chance.  

For the first couple of weeks I felt completely out of my depth but I re-watched lectures, re-attempted the practical work and in the weeks following I was feeling confident in at least discussing topics with the NPA students using the industry language and giving them anecdotes that I wouldn’t have previously. 

The course was clearly designed to align with the NPA and this meant that the same issues I  came across are likely to be those that  the pupils might also find challenging. Although I am far from being a cyber security expert, I now have much more confidence and the increased skills needed to support pupils who will go on to specialise. I have been able to bring to BGE classes a new ethical hacking and data security topic added to S2.  

If you are a Computing Science teacher, whether presenting pupils to NPA Cyber Security or not, I would recommend taking the chance to do this course if offered.

 

Shona McAlpine (@MsSMcAlpine)

Computing Science Teacher, Stirling High School (SHS Computing (@SHS_CompSci)

10 May, 16:00 – 17:00, CyberFirst summer courses

This webinar is for anyone who works with young people and/or parents. In the webinar you will have the opportunity to hear:

• About the different courses offered as part of the CyberFirst program

• See example of the content of the CyberFirst program

• Have an opportunity to ask any Questions

CyberFirst Advanced, Futures and Defenders learning programmes have been SCQF credit rated by SQA. These courses have also been certified by National Cyber Security Centre and should encourage young people to learn new skills, meet like-minded people and take the first step on their CyberFirst journey. Young people do not need to be studying for a Computer Science qualification but will need to have an interest in tech and computing.

Sign up here